FORMER prime minister Malcolm Fraser has joined independent MP Tony Windsor and Senator Nick Xenophon in calling for a national royal commission on sexual abuse by religious groups and other institutions, following claims by a senior police officer last week that the Catholic Church was still covering up the crime.

New South Wales premier Barry O'Farrell announced a special commission of inquiry to examine the police investigations of paedophile priests in the Hunter region but resisted the call for a royal commission, as have federal politicians from the major parties.

Mr Fraser said the Catholic Church should have nothing to fear from a royal commission if it had nothing to hide.